Collapse
Matthew loves Arthur and Arthur loves Matthew. Yes, in that order, Matthew thinks — because sometimes, it seems that he loves just a little bit more than Arthur does.
"I love you," the younger of the couple would say.
"I love you too," Arthur would reply, but Matthew gets the feeling that he means it less and less everytime.
There are times that he catches his lover's gaze straying too long on his brother. There are also times when he stands in the doorway, unnoticed, as Arthur clutches one of Alfred's old shirts to his chest.
It's part of the reason that Matthew finds himself returning from Hallmark one day, stuffed teddy bear in hand. It's a special kind of teddy bear, of course, and he hopes that it'll help fix their relationship. He hopes that Arthur would love him and only him again.
(Because even if he won't admit it out loud, he likes to be and wants to be selfish. Just this once.)
A soft smile never once leaves his face as he enters their apartment. He hears the water running; Arthur's in the shower? All right, then. Matthew would wait. (After all, he's waited longer for less.)
He toes off his shoes by the door and pads into the living room. He nearly drops his present when he sees his lover curled up on the couch.
"Arthur…?" he asks cautiously, because then who would be in the shower?
Said male shoots up into a sitting position, emerald eyes wide. His short, spiky hair is askew and he's missing his shirt.
Right on cue, the shower stops and the sound of the curtain being pulled back cuts through the tense silence.
Alfred emerges from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
(He knew it. He knew it.)
"Had fun?" Matthew croaks. His tone is sardonic and he doesn't know whether to start crying or punching the nearest wall.
Arthur's cheeks glow red as he hastens to stand. "I can explain—"
"I'm leaving." Matthew throws the bear at him, the stuffed toy bouncing off of his lover's chest harmlessly. "I can't believe you'd…"
Arthur drops the bear, almost leaping over the couch after the other blond. "Matthew-"
Matthew yanks the door open. Tears are spilling down his cheeks because, damn it, that was a good ten dollars he'd spent on the bear and two hours wasted on trying to think of an idea for a gift—
"Will you let me speak?" And Arthur almost looks convincingly sorry, too.
It's outside of the apartment complex when the Englishman finally catches up to him.
"I hate you," Matthew whispers.
"Bloody hell, Matthew!" Arthur pulls him back with a harsh tug. "Listen to me before you jump to conclusions!"
Matthew barks out a humorless laugh. "Jump to conclusions? You were both shirtless, you look like a mess, and he just came out of the shower! You two had sex! What other conclusions am I supposed to jump to?"
"I love you!"
"Apparently not enough if you went and slept with my brother!"
"All right!" Arthur's eyes are a dangerous jade and he lashes out with his words: "I slept with him! And you know what? He's better than you."
"Fuck you, Arthur," Matthew spits. He pretends his heart isn't shattering. He pretends that he doesn't want to cave in and collapse on himself and let all the hurt and worry and angst come falling down.
Arthur shoves him forward. The next stumbling step the Canadian takes is onto the road and in front of a car.
There's a god-awful crash.
Arthur stares down dumbly at his hands.
(And back at the apartment, the bear recites the words that it was programmed to say, albeit the irony: "I love you.")
("I love you.")
("I love you.")